For Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, Thursday marked another great stride in the wake of her spinal-cord injury.

The six-time Olympic swimming champion was released from Craig Hospital in Denver, where she has been receiving treatment since severing her spinal cord in June in an accident that left her paralyzed below the waist.

“I’m a thousand times better,” she said on Thursday at the time of her release. “Physically ... and mentally as well.”

Brennan Linsley / AP

Amy Van Dyken-Rouen sits in her wheelchair beside her husband, Tom Rouen and Craig Hospital CEO Mike Fordyce, as all three talk about her stay at the hospital over the past two months.

The Colorado native thanked the medical staff before leaving and spoke about the highs and lows of her hospital stay. She said her hardest moment was entering the pool for the first time since the accident and realizing she could no longer swim laps.

“There’s been a lot of tears shed for sure,“ Van Dyken-Rouen said. “This is not easy and I don’t want to portray the fact that because I have a smile on my face, it really is easy. It’s really not.”

Van Dyken-Rouen severed her spine in early June when an ATV rolled on top of her after dinner with her husband in Arizona. The injury was so severe that she and her husband, former Denver Broncos punter Tom Rouen, said their goodbyes before the Olympian was rushed into surgery.

“One of the things I told her was if ... all this was too much and she wanted to go, she could go and I’d understand,” Rouen told TODAY's Matt Lauer in June. Van Dyken-Rouen not only made it through the surgery, but she has been fighting for a full recovery ever since.

Van Dyken-Rouen and her husband are planning to stay in Colorado for a few weeks before heading back to their home in Arizona. She will be returning to Colorado later this fall to continue outpatient work, and while she told Lauer her ultimate goal is to walk again, Van Dyken-Rouen took the time on Thursday to applaud her current wheelchair skills.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Amy Van Dyken-Rouen visits with one of her doctors before leaving Craig Hospital.